There were a total of 26 births of conjoined twins around the world that we saw documented during 2000. Almost all of the cases listed on this page (22 of 26) were pairs of girls as well as one fetus in fetu birth of a boy twin. Most research indicates that conjoined twins are 70% female and 30% male, and that perhaps more than half of all conjoined twins are born stillborn with a little more than a third surviving past the first day. Cases below are shown in reverse chronological order:

A set of conjoined twin girls are born at the Pietermaritzburg Edendale Hospital in South Africa on December 22. The mother was from Ixopo, South Africa. They are expected to be surgically separated. Another set of conjoined twins was born at the same hospital 30 years earlier.

A pair of twin boys, Kiti and Piti, are born in Bangkok, Thailand on December 19. Each boy is born with a hole in his heart and they share just one liver and kidney. Kiti and Piti both died following an attempt to separate them.

An unnamed pair of twin boys are delivered stillborn in Abuja, Nigeria on December 6. The twins were apparently dicephalus conjoined twins.

The third pair of conjoined twins we've seen reported this year from China are born on November 22 in Jiangsu. The boys undergo unsuccessful separation surgery the day following their birth and both boys pass away within three days according to an Associated Press story.

A pair of boys, Diago and Diego Ataide Leite, are born in rural Campina Grande, Brazil on November 8. The twins are conjoined in the upper body and share a liver. Separation surgery similar to Baby Jodie and Baby Mary was performed on November 19 leading to Diego's death. The mother of the twins was just 18 years old at the time of delivery.

A pair of girls are born in a hospital in Wenzhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province on October 24. The twins share a liver and spleen. The parents of the twins found out they were going to have conjoined twins just three days before the mother's C-Section induced labor.

The first conjoined twins in Portland, Oregon history are born on October 18 with the c-section delivery of girls Alaina and Xela Bryce to parents Taluai and Adrian Bryce of Vancouver, Washington. The two Thoracopagus twin girls are born connected at the abdomen and weigh a combined 12 pounds, 5 ounces. Successful separation surgery was completed on October 31.

The Children's Hospital of Olympia, Washington reported the successful separation of conjoined Ischiopagus Tripus twin girls, Charity Mae and Kathleen Faith Lincoln on October 2. A team of 20 surgeons and 20 other personnel completed the 30-hour successful separation surgery of the girls joined together from the bottom of the breastbone to the hip (the hospital's third-such separation). NBC Dateline ran an update on the Lincoln Twins on a Feb. 9, 2001 show and both girls continue to improve. For more on Charity and Kathleen (born February 21, 2000), you can visit the web site their parents Vaniece and Greg helped create.

The third pair of conjoined twin girls born in the country of Columbia this year took place on September 22 in Cartagena as Maria Jose and Maria Fernanda are born joined together at the scalp. Doctors attempted to separate the girls in surgery the next day but Maria Jose died during the surgery and Marie Fernanda suffered respiratory failure and died the next day.

Mary and Decontee Cole were born attached at the bottom of the spine on June 4 in a hut in Liberia. They were successfully separated at the Columbus (OH) Children's Hospital on September 11 and are expected to make complete recoveries.

A pair of girls, Leydi Johana and Diana Cristina, are born in Medellin, Columbia on September 9. They undergo a risky separation surgery on September 13 and less than 24 hours later, both Leydi and Diana pass away due to respiratory problems. The girls shared four gallbladders at birth.

On August 8, 2000, a pair of conjoined sisters are born in Manchester, England, sharing just one heart and liver. Baby Mary died during surgery on Nov. 6 and 7, while Baby Jodie survived the surgery. For more on this difficult case, please follow our updates online.

An extremely rare case of a fetus in fetu set of twins are born in Texas on July 14. Weylin Kleinman had an 18-week gestational developed fetus growing in his abdomen which was removed seven days after he was born in an operation performed in New York. Weylin had eight operations during his first year of life, including organ transplants of a liver and bowel in Pittsburgh.

Conjoined sisters, Kelvoyna and Kelvondra, are born in Greenville, Mississippi on July 12 to parents, Shennikia Malone and Kelvin Howard. The twins are joined at the hip and stomach and share a liver, bladder and some pelvic bone. They are successfully separated at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and return home with their family to Mississippi in time to celebrate their first birthday.

A pair of girls, Yulissa and Yuli Baez, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on July 1. The two were joined at the thorax and shared a heart. Doctors in the Dominican were unable to perform separation surgery or find a US Hospital to perform the surgery and both girls sadly died in August.

A pair of girls born in New York City on June 9. The girls, Janlee & Janlean, are from Puerto Rico, and are attached by the liver, bladder and intestines. Unfortunately, New York doctors were only able to keep Janlean alive following separation surgery that was performed on October 6. Dateline NBC ran an update on the family on May 1, 2001--here's their web report on the twins. The Luna Rivera family has built a web site devoted to their twins at this location (en Espanol).

A pair of girls born in Columbia, Lorena and Daniela, in June. The two were joined from the waist to the neck and shared one deformed, common heart. Doctors decided against separating the twins after examining them in Spain.

Another set of girls are born in June, the Andrade Twins of Veracruz, Mexico, Maria Carmen and Maria Guadalupe. Like the Columbian Twins listed above, it is also decided that Carmen and Lupita can not be separated as the dicephalous twins share a common chest wall. The twins receive four months of medical attention in New York before returning to Mexico in the fall of 2001. They later return to the United States and their families settle in Connecticut where the girls continue to learn to walk and talk.

A pair of girls born in Rui'an, in east China's Zhejiang Province on May 28. The twins were born attached at the abdomen and shared a colon and several internal organs. The younger of the twins survived an August 28 separation, but the older sister died eight hours after the surgery. The Huang sisters were ischiopagus tetrapus.

Another pair of Craniopagus twin girls, Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha, are born in Nepal on May 9 to parents Bhushan K.C. and Sandhya Shrestha K.C. They were successfully separated in Singapore in an operation which lasted more than 90 hours from April 6-10, 2001. For more on Ganga and Jamuna, here's a link to an extensive summary of their birth and separation at the channelnewsasia.com web site.

Taylah and Monique Armstrong, an extremely rare example of Craniopagus Twins (actually connected at the skull with the girls facing back to back from each other) are born in Brisbane, Australia on April 3 to a 21-year-old mother, Pacquita Armstrong. The girls are being treated at the Royal Children's Hospital in Brisbane and were successfully separated in October surgery.

Two Peruvian Twins, Marta and Milagro, are born in January. The twins who also shared one heart were brought to Italy and were unsuccessful separated in a surgery in Palermo in mid-May. Both girls died during the surgery.

Another pair of sisters from the Dominican Republic, Jazmin and Nasmil Campusano Frias, who were successfully separated in early January at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey. The twins were connected at the breastbone and upper abdomen and shared one liver. The separation surgery divided their one liver into two smaller, functioning organs. They are doing well and have returned home to their native country.

The Facts About Multiples Web Site also lists the following conjoined twins who were born during the 2000 calendar year: Valerrhea and Valeryn Agnasi (thoracopagus twins from the Phillipines) on February 7, Larissa and Loraine Goncalves ( ischiopagus triups), born in Brazil in July (and later separated successfully), and Faith and Hope Emberson, born in New Zealand on May 2 (Faith and Hope passed away on May 5, Valerrhea and Valeryn pass away following their separation).